Morrie Turner: Pioneering 'Wee Pals' cartoonist, dies at 90

Tributes poured in Monday for Morris "Morrie" Turner, the beloved Oakland-born cartoonist who broke racial barriers in the 1960s when he became the first African-American to have a syndicated comic strip -- the gently humored, ethnically diverse "Wee Pals."

The self-taught son of a Pullman porter and protégé of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz, Turner died peacefully at a Sacramento hospital Saturday, David Bellard, a family friend said. He turned 90 in early December and had been working until Friday, when he went to the hospital.

"He was a hero of mine," said Belva Davis, a pioneer herself in Bay Area journalism. She recalled how he paid tribute to her in his otherwise kid-focused strip in the weekly special section "Soul Corner," which profiles mostly accomplished African-Americans but breaks the color barrier in its honors as well.

When Turner created "Wee Pals" in 1965, the Tribune was one the first major newspapers to run it. At the time, characters of color rarely appeared in mainstream comic strips.

The "Wee Pals" are a group of friends who deal with racism, sexism and bullying. Turner's intention, his biography said, was "to portray a world without prejudice, a world in which people's differences -- race, religion, gender and physical and mental ability -- are cherished, not scorned."

Among the characters are several African-American kids, a neighborhood bigot, some "Girls Libbers" and, of course, Nipper, a boy, modeled on Turner himself, who typically wears a Civil War cap and has a dog named General Lee.

The youngest of four children, Turner began drawing cartoons in the fifth grade. After attending McClymonds High in Oakland and graduating from Berkeley High, he served in World War II, where, Bellard said, he was a mechanic for the famed Tuskegee Airmen and drew comic strips for military newspapers.

Upon his return to the Bay Area, Turner juggled a job as a clerk for the Oakland Police Department while freelancing cartoons to newspapers and magazines locally and in Chicago.

He admired Schulz's "Peanuts" and mulled creating a black Charlie Brown. At one point, Turner asked Schulz, why he didn't have any black kids in his comic strip, and Schulz told Turner to create his own.

Even though the Civil Rights movement was gaining momentum in the mid-1960s, few papers would run "Wee Pals." That changed with the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The strip began appearing in more than 100 newspapers across the United States including the Times-Herald.

His wife Letha died in 1994. He moved to West Sacramento several years ago. He is survived by his son, Morrie Jr., daughter-in-law, four grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. Memorial services are pending.